Hallie Grimm: Tales of the Fairy Wrangler

Rapunzel:15th century Mexico. Check. 

Note: 

-Bring food to draw fae in. 

-Get a good overview of the city(maybe map?) 

-Likes paint

Golden Goose:Elizabethan England. Check.

Note: 

-Draw birds toward water. 

-Fix Howard to make sure clothes are accurate(and comfortable!) 

Dopey:1920’s-

“New York.” I confirm to myself before stepping into the portal. Only one more little errand to run, then I’d be back in my New York; my cozy dorm room and freshly made chai awaiting. The pile of Tvolstvoy books sitting atop my desk. 

I had never quite gotten used to the feeling of traveling through time. 

Realms I understood. With realms, it was like stepping through a door. There’s a common notion that different realms operate on different speeds of time-but that’s complete crud. All realms operate on the same time(time zones do actually apply to all universe’s though)

With time-ugh. You were in this weird jello state for a minute before actually being let out. There was a sense that I was losing time when I traveled through it. This strange feeling like a gap had been opened. But of course, I stepped in. I had a job to do.  

Ugh. WJF(Weird Jello Feeling). 

My eyes readjusted to the beating New York sun of what seemed to be the summer heat. Looking down, my jeans and Harry Potter tee had disappeared-only to be replaced by a black and white drop-waist dress, black kitten heels, and a silk hat that felt smooth against the tips of my ears. 

I see a billboard for Coca-cola, and one for Castro Convertibles underneath it. There’s a faint smell of cigarettes and pizza trailing beneath my nose, followed by the scent of cheap perfume as a group of young women walk past me, their tightly pinned hair barely moving against the wind. 

The last two errands I had run had been fairly easy. It’s quite simple to find a girl with twenty foot long golden hair it turns out, and even easier to find a golden goose in the midst of Elizabethan England-just follow the trail of people screaming. 

My day had gone to plan, no errors to be made. And I wasn’t going to let one of Snow White’s dwarfs ruin my day. 

You see, I catch fairytale characters. Well, catch may be too strong of a word. It’s not like I’m trapping them with a net or something. Although, I did almost have to once. Had something to do with that frog prince-like from the princess and the frog. The dude refused to let me catch it. I ended up having to call my dad and it was this whole thing-anyway,where was I? Ah, yes, I’m not some sort of fairytale character catcher. I simply return them to their world, and help restore balance to both the Earthborn and Fairborn worlds. 

A.K.A, I simply return them to the pages of my father’s books.

 Well, my father and my uncles books to be more specific.

And neither of them would ever let me forget it. 

See, My father is Weilheim Grimm. 

Like, the Grimm brothers. 

As in Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretal, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. 

As in one of the Seven Dwarfs I’m trying to catch right now. 

I look down to see Howard lagging with the directions.He's in desperate need of some rest time, and is as slow as I’ve ever seen him after these last few runs.

My apologies, if you're confused : Howard is my trusty magic pocket watch. He tells me wherever magic is sensed when I cross realms, i.e dragging me towards whatever fairytale character I’m trying to reach. My father had had a secret knack for watches, and engineered Howard to trace magic-or more specifically, fairyborns. 

I can feel strong magic coming off as we get closer, but man, these heels were painful. I was used to wearing heels back in my New York. I was barely taller than an eleven year old, so I sort of had too. But these heels were unlike any pain I had ever experienced. Pinching at every inch of my heels, cramming my toes into a space too small for them to fit. 

I mean, I’ve wrestled with an evil cat, and these shoes simply take the cake. 

I find myself holding back from screaming a little with each passing tap of my footsteps. 

But with each passing step, the smell of magic gets stronger. It is actually a sort of smell- but Dad said it’s different for everyone. For him, he said it was his mother’s cooking.The smell of pies and cooked chicken with potatoes. It reminded him of his siblings and his parent’s all sitting together for dinner when he was a young boy.

I’ve found it to be the smell of burning wood. It reminded me of the first few fairy hunts I’d done with my dad and uncle. They’d both fight over who was qualified enough to take me-and then they’d both end up coming. We’d sometimes set up camp for a few hours because we’d arrive during nighttime and there was no use looking. 

I feel almost entranced with the smell now. 

As if it’s bringing me back to those moments. 

The stronger the smell, the stronger the magic, my uncle would say. 

But how could a small dwarf have that kind of magic? 

Howard seemed to be malfunctioning even more, as he began to pull me every which way. A couple hundred year old watch breaks, go figure. 

The best solution I could come up with was to even out the mismatched directions, and go where I thought was the center.

Which led me to a dark alley. 

I heard rat squeaks that made me squeak. 

There’s piles and piles of trash so high I can barely see the brick walls of the building’s surrounding me. Dwarf’s were notorious for mining of course, looking for gold in strange places. They went wherever they felt like treasure was to be found. 

The smell made me want to puke, and I knew three or four showers to get rid of it would be awaiting when I returned to my dorm. 

But the smell of magic was still stronger. Even powerful creatures-witches, fairies, king’s and queens-their magic had never felt this strong. 

It’s almost as if I was back in those forests, the smell of burning wood less than a foot away from me. 

Something was off. 

I heard a faint voice. So low, I could barely make it out. 

Weaving my way around the trashbags so that I wouldn’t spook them, I slowly approached the sounds, getting close enough to make out two distinct voices. Hiding behind the mountains of trash piled up, I listened in. 

“No, you don’t understand! I’m late, late, late!” A squeaky voice proclaimed. It sounded like that of a boy’s-maybe thirteen or fourteen, with perhaps a british accent? 

“I don’t have your watch,” the other voice answered, this one seemed to be english as well, only his voice was deeper. 

The first voice spoke again. “I can sense it! My pocket watch is somewhere around here somewhere! You boy, you must have it!” 

“Rabbit, I don’t have your pocket watch!” 

My curiosity got the better of me, and I peeked over the trash to find a tall young man with messy brown hair and green eyes. And a rabbit. A rabbit in a tailcoat, a top hat, looking at the man through his monocle. 

“It’s here!” he declares again, "I can smell the magic off of it!” 

I look down to my own pocket watch twisted between my fingers. He couldn't possibly be referring to Howard could he? 

No, I confirmed to myself. Howard was built by my father years ago, he was a family heirloom. There is no possible way the rabbit senses Howard. 

No.

Way. 

“Rabbit,” the boy spoke again, “may we return to our world? I’m sure we will find your pocket watch somewhere there. This is New York.” 

“Listen to me boy. The pocket watch is here. Closer than ever.” I almost thought the rabbit would start towards me, but he remained in his spot. 

I hear shuffling near me. 

Shit. 

I turn my head to find-Dopey. 

Low and behold, there he was.Rustling the trash beneath his feet, eating a possibly day old hotdog. 

I could no longer focus on the boy and rabbit. All I knew was I had to grab Dopey and get him home.  Looking down at my pocketwatch, I began turning it to the correct time. Bay of Pirates, Land of Small Folk-here we are: Enchanted Forest. 

“Hey!” The young man’s voice made me jump. He spotted me from behind the piles of trash. “You need to leave. Immediately.” 

I wanted to speak but my mouth refused to open. Instead I just stood there, wide-eyed and shocked. This man had been standing with a talking rabbit, and he was watching me collect one of the seven dwarfs to take back to their realm. 

“Uh-” was all I could manage. 

He began to approach me. Walking closer and closer. My body refused to move, my fingertips clutching Howard, hovering over the portal switch. 

The young man looked down to see what I had been toying with between my fingers. His pupils grew twice in size, and he looked as if he was about to scream with relief.

“Rabbit,” he asked, “is that your pocket watch?” 

Great. Now the talking rabbit is walking closer to me. He pulled his monocle closer to his eye. “Why, yes!” he squealed, “Yes, that is my very pocketwatch!” He put out his hand-or rather, paw. “Give it here girl.” 

His harsh tone made something stir in my stomach. 

Suddenly, I found my voice again. “This is my watch, you rabbit. I’ve had it my entire life!” 

“Why are you such a horrid little girl!” the rabbit spat. “You must give me my pocket watch back so the two of us can return home!”

“Not. Gonna. Happen.”

The young man’s face had gone from beaming to that of annoyance and frustration once again. “Listen,” the young man began, his fingers against his temples, “either you give the rabbit the pocket watch, and we can all be on our way, or-” 

“Or what?” Now, not only was I annoyed, but I was angry. “I suppose you haven’t even asked how I’m not in complete shock of seeing a talking rabbit and a dwarf!” I signal towards Dopey, who’s now sitting in the corner eating something he found in the trash. “Look,” I continued, this pocket watch doesn’t belong to the rabbit, it’s mine…and it’s powerful,” he was obviously from the magic world, but I still lowered my voice when I told him, “it can travel through time and realms. It is clearly not your rabbit’s watch.” 

To this, he didn’t seem the least bit stunned. In fact, he seemed to be as angry as I was. “I don’t know what stunt you think you're pulling, but I ought to take you back to the magic world with me since you know it’s existence!” 

“You’d be stupid if you think I’ll go anywhere with you!” 

“Give. me. the. pocket. watch.” he commands. 

“Come. and. get. it.” I smirked, and I began to turn the watch so I can finally get Dopey back to his correct time. 

The man seemed angry, like he could jump at me at any minute. But as I turned, and the portal began to appear, I could sense his belief in my words was growing. His eyes grew wide once more. 

Just one more time, I told myself. I began to picture my dorm room once more. My books , my comfy bed, my life back in New York. Just once more would I have to do this then- “Hey!” 

I could barely register what was happening. The rabbit had swiped my pocket watch. Hoping right in front of me as the portal was opening. I was so focused on the boy I didn’t think the rabbit would make a move. 

But oh boy, did he. 

“You can’t take that!” I screamed, but they continued to ignore me, jumping through the portal. 

Jumping. Through. The portal. 

I had no way home. 

Not without that pocketwatch. 

I ran to grab Dopey so I could at least take him out of the Earthborn world. 

As I approached the portal, the young man still stood there, his eyes wide with shock at what had just happened. Without hesitation, I grabbed his hand. 

“What do you think your-” he could barely finish his sentence, before I pulled us both through. 

He was my only link to the rabbit, and therefore, my pocketwatch. Without it I was helpless. I guess my books and cozy dorm would have to wait another day. 

Someday I’ll have to find a real job.